Avatar

After 12 years and spending somewhere in the region of $300 million greenbacks, James Cameron hasn't made a film with Avatar...he's created a whole new world (it's not Aladdin, though). In spite of a wobbly, poor plot that threatens to morph into Dances With Pixels or Bravebyte, Cameron's showmanship wins through: this is one film that demands to be seen on the big screen.

After all, Cameron is, at heart, a showman, his films hearkening back to the earliest Cinema of Attractions in offering audiences unrivalled spectacle. Think the Titanic breaking in half or the T-1000 reforming itself from a frozen, brittle mess. On his best days though, he's also able to fuse this with a palpably emotional centre: Ripley mourning over her daughter's death or a machine 'learning the value of human life'.

Avatar, to be frank, doesn't fall into the latter category; the premise is thin and underdeveloped, a derivative collage of 'rally the clan' epics, and there's some serious neglect of major background players (Michelle Rodriguez? She never gets a look-in). It's not difficult to see where the director's heart truly lies: rather than hanging his new creation on a tangible narrative, he's done the opposite, so consumed is he with transporting the audience to a far away land that the story fades into silence.

But what a land it is. Our introduction to it comes courtesy of Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a paraplegic Marine who's taking the place of his deceased brother for a scientific mission on Pandora, a primal savage planet pitted against an invading corporation. Jake's task is to take over an 'avatar', a simulation of the planet's indigenous Na'avi population, infiltrate the tribe and gain their trust so the insidious military types can gain a foothold. However, no sooner has he been inducted into the tribe that he questions his orders and starts to respect the Na'vi way of life.

In other words, the scenario is classic Cameron, a world of faceless company men versus an exotic, savage society; watching it, it's hard not to see the film as an allegory for what we're doing to the Amazon. As always, his future settings have a refreshing, lived-in feel to them away from all the military hardware, where cynical doctors and scientists (here represented by another patented Sigourney Weaver performance) think nothing of puffing nonchalantly on a cigarette while the slimy bureaucrats (an underused Giovanni Ribisi) play golf with coffee mugs.

So, the set-up is brisk and effective but the real treat comes when Jake enters his avatar world for the first time. This is where our 12 years of patience pays off and Cameron really gets to have fun: Pandora is an extraordinary creation, where beasts range in size and scale, where some have Jurassic Park-esque trills on their heads, where others glide, bioluminescent style through the air. It's truly heaven-sent and the attention to detail is extraordinary, a place of myths.

It also needs to be said that 3D is the only way to see this movie. Perfunctory in recent efforts as mere window-dressing, Cameron has a reason to shoot in this fashion; watching it, you can almost reach out and touch the flora and fauna. An immersive experience? That barely describes it.

Of course, the movie also wouldn't be Cameron without an intergalactic lovestory crossing impossible boundaries. Here the wonderfully expressive Zoe Saldana continues Cameron's trend of strong female leads as the coiled, agile Neytiri, the human soul of the Na'vi world and the one who convinces Jake to switch sides against his employers. Of course we have to put up with the moments where they bond over a botched horseback ride and lots of mumbo-jumbo but that's par for the course.

So it all sounds promising but then we reach the halfway point and start to realise there's only so much seductive imagery one can take in place of a strong backbone. A victim to modern storytelling trends, Cameron then has to pack pretty much all the dramatic conflict into the second half, leaving it both flabby and corny. As Jake rallies the Na'vi to take sides against the coffee swigging aggressors, one does expect Mel Gibson to rock up in woad (hey, he'd fit in, right?)

This is in spite of some jaw dropping moments (a giant tree collapsing evokes memories of the Titanic's funnel doing just that) and excellent performances from scenery chewing Stephen Lang as Colonel Quaritch (a man so hard, he doesn't need an oxygen mask outside the base) and of course, Worthington. Is he the new Harrison Ford? On the basis of his effortless charisma, he may just be. He's also brilliantly charismatic, if not, more so, as the avatar Jake, given to freewheeling joy at the return of his legs. More watchable when rendered on a computer? The kid's got a bright future.

But is this the future writ-cinema? It's a yes and no answer but the film is nevertheless raw, unfettered Cameron. In a day and age where filmmakers are frequently forced to compromise their own vision, here is someone with the gumption to wait 15 years so the age can catch up. As a piece of spectacle, it's unmatched, even if all other departments are familiar. Perhaps then, Jake is our own avatar - into Cameron's world. And it's a wondrous place to be.

Reel Retrospective: The Abyss (1989): Watery Masterpiece or Soggy Mess?

Like Apocalypse Now, James Cameron's The Abyss is a film almost outshone by its notoriously troubled production. Shot in an abandoned nuclear reactor in South Carolina, stories abound about star Ed Harris almost drowning in an oxygen tank cock-up; Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio being driven to the brink by the director's endless takes; and the crew being submerged in underwater darkness for hours on end.

Cameron's notorious pursuit of technical perfection subsequently lends The Abyss a lived-in, claustrophobic feel rivalling even that of his beloved masterpieces, the two Terminators and Aliens. Yet it's perhaps the most humane of all his efforts, not to mention his most ambitious on a character-driven level. Few of the director's movies feature characters as plausible as those in The Abyss, either centering on non-human robots (the T-101) or archetypes (Aliens' colonial marines or Titanic's snobby upper class).

Integral to the film's success is the fractious central relationship between Harris' genial 'Bud' Brigman and Mastrantonio's plucky, tough talking Lindsey, separated husband and wife thrown together once again on Lindsey's underwater rig when the Navy choose to commandeer it for shady purposes. Led by Cameron regular Michael Biehn (in a stand-out performance) as twitchy Lt Coffey, the Seals claim they're investigating the crash of a nuclear sub, the Montana, and want Bud's crew to document their efforts. But of course the motives are darker than that - and the presence of what appears to be a pink, glowing, Russian submersible only complicates matters...Is the threat coming from a domestic level, or something extra-terrestrial?

The film draws unfavourably close comparisons with Steven Spielberg's ET (even down to the aliens being classed instead as 'NTI's') but more on that momentarily. For the most part, it's a lean, taut thriller benefiting from its director's stringent shooting conditions: all narrow corridors, actors performing their own stunts and intimate group dynamics. Fleshing out the varied cast are Leo Burmeister's Cat, Todd Graff's Hippy and Kimberly Scott's wiseass driver 'One Night'. True they fulfill the cliches of the stock crew (friendly giant, paranoid clutz, loveable dope etc) familiar from siege flicks like Rio Bravo and The Thing, but there's a believable quality and humour to the performances (even, occasionally, in Biehn's villain) that lends the film a more personal edge.

The astonishing practical effects also lend the film a sense of realism rivalled in few sci-fi efforts since (bar Cameron's own work) and Mikael Solomon's blue-tinged cinematography adds to the potent mystery and danger of the deep. Tension is built carefully and relentlessly for the duration, as Bud and Lindsey come into conflict with the Seals' hijack of a nuclear warhead in the close confines of the rig. There are several uncomfortably intense set-pieces (including the infamous one where Lindsey is forced to drown and be resucitated), lent credibility by Harris and Mastrantonio's physical, committed performances (even if they were under duress). Alan Silvestri's score percolates effectively under the surface, with subtle choral and synth interventions leading the film into even more fantastical territory.

And then...we arrive at that ending, as Bud, having gone into the abyss to defuse the warhead and in his death throes, meets some unexpected saviours. A bone of contention ever since the film's release, it has been dismissed as both sappy drivel and an underwater knock-off of every alien film ever made. Truthfully, this is extremely unfair: astute viewers will have noted that Cameron has melded the fantastical with the human from the onset of the story, the landmark CGI effects making a famous appearance in the Pseudopod sequence, among others. Its apparent final submergence (boom boom) into sub-ET territory is hardly unexpected but offers the redemptive resolution to the characters' travails (hamfisted as the moral is) that has been promised all along.

Corny? At odds with the earlier slow-build? Hell yeah, and Cameron's controversial 'Director's Cut' adds more cheese to the mix by fleshing out the aliens' master plan. There's no doubt he (for once) bites off more than he can chew but as Silvestri's magnificent score reaches its astonishing choral opus, it becomes apparent once more how life-affirming, as opposed to scary, the presence of little green men is: all you need to save your marriage, it seems, is some interstellar intervention. Told you it's Cameron's most humane film.

This Time...It's War: Cameron Vs Cameron

So, if the thought of James Cameron's upcoming Avatar doesn't get your pulse racing, either your adrenal glands aren't working properly...or you're not a true film fan. The much touted release of 'the movies' mad toymaker' (to quote Time's Richard Corliss) has been an astonishing twelve years in the making, costing somewhere in the region of $300 million. Hopefully it can reward our investment and patience with its much hyped mix of 3D CGI action and real actors.

To sate your appetite in the meantime, here's a little Cameron themed contest. Who will win? Will you start the fans, please! (Sorry, that's The Crystal Maze - now, there's a show dying for a Cameron-themed remake...)

Round One: The Women

Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) Vs Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver)

To be fair, all of Cameron's movies feature spunky female characters (something he attributes to his mother) but the remarkable and pleasing thing is how he never labours the fact. In Cameron's world, women are equal to men and that's an end of it, while also harbouring strong maternal bonds (something Neil Marshall's Cameron-riffing The Descent also highlighted). And you don't get more significant than the mother of the saviour of the human race (Sarah Connor) and tough as nails Ellen Ripley, plugging xenomorphs and overcoming the grief of her daughter's death while in hypersleep.



And the winner is...? Ellen Ripley: This may be a wee bit controversial as Cameron didn't create the character but in terms of expanding on the fierce/fragile heroine of the original, adding both nuance and grit, he transforms an iconic character into something arguably more haunting. Weaver's statuesque, commanding authority was never better.



Round Two: The Effects

T-1000 (Terminator 2: Judgment Day) Vs The Sinking (Titanic)

One of the true technical pioneers of recent action/sci-fi cinema, Cameron is reported to be ruthlessly exacting in getting what he wants (see the behind the scenes footage of the Aliens shoot for proof). However, the results on-screen are plain to see; it just shows, a lot of hard work goes a long way. Also key to the man's movies is the artistry at work in the effects, blending miniatures, CGI and model-work to seamless effect but always in service of the narrative. The two above examples highlight that beautifully. Are you listening, Michael Bay?

And the winner is...? The T-1000: Titanic may be drawn on a larger scale (astonishingly so) but Robert Patrick's shape-shifting villain giving Arnie a run for his money is still extraordinary after 18 years. For effects to hold up that well after that long, it means they demand special recognition. Truly the only other rival to its 90s SFX crown is Jurassic Park. It's all in the little details: an explosion reflecting off the liquid metal surface; the fluid horror as it morphs into someone you know; a blunt instrument reforming into the shape of a human arm...

Round Three: The Score

Aliens (James Horner) Vs The Abyss (Alan Silvestri)

Forget the sappy melodrama of Titanic; these two soundtracks are where it's at. As tyrannical in the recording studio as he was on-set, Cameron's insistent meddling with James Horner's Oscar nominated Aliens led it to be chopped and changed in the film but it does evoke a brilliantly creepy atmosphere, before exploding in some of the best action work of his career, the London Symphony Orchestra going full bore in cues such as Bishop's Countdown (a trailer favourite). Alan Silvestri reportedly had a less difficult time on The Abyss (if Cameron's glowing album notes are anything to go by), evoking the both the beauty and horror of the undersea fantasy before a magnificent choral climax.

And the winner is...? The Abyss: Not only does Silvestri's score make a bigger impression on the film than Horner's, ranging from the gentle expressionism of The Pseudopod to eerie, watery synths to stupendous choir and orchestra, it's also the highpoint of the composer's career to date. Horner went on to bigger and better things but Silvestri's grasp of disparate musical elements seals The Abyss as his masterpiece.

Round Four: The Wit

You're Fired! (True Lies) Vs Gimme a Cigarette (The Terminator)

Never one to clog up his films with pompousness (OK so the earthy Oirish vs the oily upper class in Titanic comes close), Cameron has always alternated tension with a solid laugh or two, bringing his frequently outlandish concepts down to Earth with a bump. It also engages the audience at heart with the narrative, with the above examples giving reign to either the ridiculous (Arnie rescuing his daughter from Art Malik in True Lies) or the subtle (Paul Winfield's strung out cop drinking fag-strewn coffee in The Terminator).

And the winner is...? You're Fired! No, Alan Sugar's not in a supporting role but the sublimely OTT climax of Cameron's most tongue-in-cheek, humourous film is magnificent in its self-aware stupidity, boasting one of the all-time great baddie dispatches (death by hanging-from-missile). True Lies isn't a complete success but you're compelled to keep watching - and it finally rewards patience with this showdown to top all showdowns.

Round Five: The Set-Pieces

Helicopter Chase (Terminator 2) Vs The Queen (Aliens)

Cameron is a master of the set-piece, staging thrilling extravaganzas of chaos and destruction - see the splitting of the ship in Titanic or the police-station shootout in The Terminator. The above choices are noteworthy in extending narrative tension in wildly opposing ways: T2 all choppers flying under bridges as our heroes try to outrun the T-1000, Aliens, unbearably creepy fear, as the edits build closer and closer to the reveal of 'the Mama', the Alien Queen herself.

And the winner is...? The Queen: It's not viscerally exciting like its T2 rival clip but in terms of generating potent fear laced with uneasy subtext (motherhood; children) and emotional pathos, this is what Cameron's superb sequel to Alien has been building to all along. Be sure to catch the directors cut of Aliens to see the fleshed-out meta-plot in full.

Round Six: The Icons

The Terminator (The Terminator) Vs T-101 (Terminator 2)

Pitting the same characters against one another? Kinda pointless? Ah, well the key lies in the differing audience perceptions of Arnie's status. After all, The Terminator was what established him as the beefcake 80s megastar, whereas T2 both turned the character on its head and humanised it though the T-101's paternal relationship with young John Connor. The sight of Arnie in leathers wielding a shotgun ceased to be scary. Instead, it was damn cool

And the winner is...? The Terminator: But the winner is the one that started it all for Ahnuld, the gritty, 'tech-noir' sci-fi thriller from 1984. Without The Terminator we'd have no Predator; no Total Recall; heck, no Jingle All the Way (OK that's garbage but still)

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So where will Avatar rank in terms of music, set-pieces, performances? Only a week till we find out!

'I See You' - We Hear You

So Leona Lewis' inevitable chart topping ballad from the upcoming Avatar has made its (unofficial) debut...And it's not too bad, tell the truth! Yes, the lyrics are hilarious and banal as they are in all James Horner-penned songs but the mild RnB/pop vibe is refreshing, while Lewis' vocals are typically excellent. She does have a pair of lungs (steady!) on her. There's certainly no trace of anyone named Celine in sight...

Check it out floating around on the net somewhere